Honors Comparison Essays
Overview: Over this semester, I had the opportunity to take Honors within this class. In normal class, students read a class book and wrote an essay (mostly) about themes, concepts, and/or reoccurring ideas. For the Honors load, students read an addition book by the author and wrote an addition essay comparing the two books. The pairs of books that we read were: Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction by J.D. Salinger, Siddhartha and Demian by Hermann Hesse, and Man's Search for Meaning and The Unheard Cry for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. You can read an excerpt of my essay on the J.D. Salinger novels to the right. In addition, at the end of the semester we wrote a critical theory essay on a class book of choice. Below, you can read my abstract for the essay I wrote on Man's Search for Meaning.
Emily Davis’ Essay Abstract
Written by Emily Davis This essay details a view of Viktor Frankl’s most popular novel, Man’s Search for Meaning, through a New Historicist lense. When looking at literature through a New Historicist lense, the text is being analyzed based on what aspects the author’s life influenced the text. This essay explains aspects of Frankl’s life and how it has influenced him. These important experiences include his upbringing by civil servants, his psychological interest in Freud’s work, and his time within the concentration camps of the Holocaust. All of these experiences combined resulted in the written work of Man’s Search for Meaning. |
Excerpt from Comparison Essay on J.D. Salinger novels:
"Although there are many themes within the novels Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction by J.D. Salinger, the concept of the family relationships is one of the most important. In the book Franny and Zooey, the character Franny becomes fragmented after reading a book left on Seymour’s (her dead brother’s) desk. After, she moves back home and and disengages from her ‘normal’ life. As a result of being home, she is more available for her family to talk to her, and talk her through her problems. Because she is more in contact with her family, the subject of family relations is highly emphasized in the book. Within the book Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction, the narrator, Buddy Glass (another sibling of Franny and Zooey), talks about Seymour’s wedding, as well as many anecdotes, stories, and ideas about Seymour. Although there is no main plot, the book is about Buddy’s reaction and thoughts about his brother and his life. Because of the writing about the Glass family and siblings, it is clear to see this theme within the books. In the Glass family, as written in Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction (RHRB) by J.D. Salinger, meaningful dialogue and connection leads to acceptance, which are all vital aspects to having a healthy relationship." |